Ye Cang cleaned up the corpses, and received the rock lizard meat and other materials. Everyone continued making their way forwards. They followed the winding path, gradually getting deeper, and dealt with many cave rats and rock lizards on the way. The generous amount of experience allowed Ye Cang to finally reach level 10, becoming the 4th player to reach it. Furthermore, the instance elites provided them with so much equipment that they had managed to switch out all their fine quality or lower items. Now they wore a full set of excellent quality equipment or better.
Ye Cang saw that once he reached level 10, his experience bar locked up. As for whether it was possible to reach level 11, it was still a mystery.
The system prompted him that he earned a reward from his human racial characteristic - Learned. An extra common talent point. Ye Cang added it to his only common talent, Clever and Deft.
Clever and Deft (Intermediate): +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 All Weapon Proficiencies, +3 Reflex.
ThornyRose's girls looked at Ye Cang. That guy reached level 10.
SpyingBlade and NalanMoon maintained their silence. Ye Cang thought it was about time. "To celebrate me reaching level 10, I'll treat everyone to some good food!!"
"That guy actually admitted it himself." ThornyRose sighed. NalanMoon thought So it was him, the fourth player to reach level 10. The Mysterious Ranger. The ranger class that rarely reached the top rankings. The virtual web was already making a big fuss over it.
"Bro, eat what?" Zhang ZhengXiong asked doubtfully.
"A monstrous bird banquet." Ye Cang smiled.
Lin Le, FrozenCloud, and Zhang Zheng Xiong sighed in relief.
Zhang ZhengXiong quickly lit the fire, looking forwards to it.
NalanMoon saw that the few of them were actually happy, and looked at them confused. It wasn't the cooking from hell?
ThornyRose and the others heard from the whistleblower FrozenCloud that the only food he could cook well was the monstrous bird, but they had never tried it before so were a bit curious.
Ye Cang took out the meat from the Monstrous Bird Boss's thigh and threw it in the pot. He then added the rock lizard meat inside. Finally, he added some seasoning and wild mushrooms. Everyone smelled the faint delicious fragrance. It was like heaven and hell compared to last time, though this dish hadn't quite reached heaven, but that dish before it was definitely worse than hell.
"Congratulations. You've created a new recipe. Please give it a name."
"Lizard and Chicken Stew."
Lizard and Chicken Stew: Recover 1 health every second and 1 mana every 10 seconds while eating. Gain +2 all attributes, +2 extra constitution, +8 all resistances, and +4 defence for 3 hours. (A pretty good delicacy. The look and fragrance all meet the standards. Good job…)
Ye Cang lamented. He finally had some success in the art of cooking. Looking at the work of art in front of him, he nodded gratefully.
ThornyRose was exulted. It was a defence type buff, an exceptionally good one. It had constitution, resistance, and even a whole 4 defence. She took a bowl, smelled the rich fragrance, and tried some of the soup. She couldn't help moaning blissfully. It was real human food, she was really moved. Then her heart ached. She had eaten things better than this countless times, yet for some reason, she was currently moved to tears, especially when she compared it to the thing before.
"Oh right. Those who need attack power, you can eat this one." Ye Cang took out the remaining half pot and looked towards the three assassins.
The three of them quickly shook their heads.
"I have enough attack power."
"I'm lacking in survival capabilities."
"I also want to increase my health."
"Well, up to you. We'll need to eat it eventually anyways." Ye Cang shrugged. He indifferently put it away. Hearing Ye Cang's words, everyone's heart trembled. They looked at the delicious Lizard and Chicken Stew. It felt like their last feast before going on a long journey.
"Wait! The buffs stack!!" ThornyRose cried out in alarm. She saw that the old and new buffs were both still there. If he made a few more dishes, with the stacking buffs, they could reach the heavens!
"It's true!" NalanMoon also cried out in alarm. If they could stack buffs infinitely, this cooking would be too broken.
Ye Cang looked puzzled, it stacked? He had already tried it before, the buffs couldn't stack. Could it be because he leveled up his cooking? He quickly made the roasted fish set, but the buff didn't stack.
"I more or less understand. It should be based on the cooking level. The things I make can stack once, allowing you to have buffs from two dishes, but no more. It's similar to how the set meals work." Ye Cang murmured.
Everyone nodded. Being able to stack two food buffs was also shocking. It was equivalent to wearing another top quality equipment. They looked at the roasted fish, this dish was also disgusting. It was only a tiny bit better than that rat stews with something. Everyone felt like throwing up.
"Since we know, out of the three meals, you can all choose two. The roast fish is a set meal, you have to eat all three fish. Now hurry. Ye Cang was somewhat excited. Buffs from two different foods, his party's strength would receive another boost. Ah~ once his cooking skill reached master level, or grandmaster level, then couldn't he make a whole course meal. Some 7 or 8 buffs, it sounded so awesome. Cooking really suits me. Looks like I have to straighten myself out, get rid of all those distracting thoughts. I must continue fumbling through the mists on the path of cooking.
Everyone looked at the three dishes in front of them and struggled to make up their mind. The Lizard and Chicken Stew was a must, in fact they had already eaten it. What was left was either cave rat hell, or nightmare roast fish. The rat stew was better as a whole, but the roast fish set's basic attributes were better.
Zhang ZhengXiong had a bitter face. This feeling, it was like wanting him to pick three wives. One wife was fairly pretty. As for the other two, one was a Jurassic dinosaur, the other was a Cretaceous Dinosaur. Unfortunately he couldn't just pick only one. With a heavy heart, he struggled between the Jurassic or Cretaceous.
Little Ye Tian did a bit of analysis. The optimal choice for her would be the rat stew plus the roast fish. However, her reason told her that if she ate both, she would be worse than dead. She rejected the rat stew, and chose the one that suited her more, the Lizard and Chicken Stew + Roast Fish Set. Then she passed out after obtaining the buffs.
"This little girl will grow up to be an evil witch." ThornyRose saw Little Ye Tian choose so quickly, so fervently greeting death. She actually admired her. She herself had already chosen the Lizard and Chicken Stew and in her other hand was a cold rat and a bunch of disgusting stuff in a stew. She prepared her heart and then chugged it down. She began to feel her vision becoming blurry, and she fell to the ground, murmuring: "Must get married…"
Ye Cang's four looked at Ye Tian passed out on the ground, and raised a bowl of rat stew. "F**k it, Litte Tian is waiting for us."
FrozenCloud felt like she had no way out. Since she was going to die anyways, might as well get it over with. She took the initiative to chug it down, and then fell to the ground, slain.
The three others look towards FrozenCloud who was frothing at the mouth. "We're coming."
The three simultaneously 'died'.